Serenade ship time versus island time

[Joby]

For the Serenade sailing February 5, does anyone know if the ship's time is different than any of the following island times or will the ship's time be the same as the island time---

 

Tortola

St. Kitts

Dominica

Antigua

St. Martin

 

Trying to make sure we are on the same time frame as all of our private tours.

[gagirl7143]

Your tours will get ship arrival time from the port

[moopetguy]

You're sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, which is Eastern time (UTC-05:00), and your Caribbean destinations are all UTC-04:00.

 

So my guess is that one night, overnight on your way to Tortola, the ship's clock will be adjusted forward (they will explicitly mention it in the Cruise Compass, plus lots of announcements on board) and you "lose" an hour.

 

On your way back to Ft. Lauderdale, they'll adjust the clock back an hour, again likely overnight, and you "gain" that hour back.

 

Sometimes they adjust the clock during the day, mid-afternoon (I experienced that on an transatlantic). But I think an overnight adjustment is more likely in your itinerary.

 

All this to say that I'm pretty sure your ship's time will match the island time at every port, which is what the 1 hour adjustment (to the Atlantic time zone) is all about.

Edited January 30, 2016 by moopetguy

[msmayor]

You're sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, which is Eastern time (UTC-05:00), and your Caribbean destinations are all UTC-04:00.

 

So my guess is that one night, overnight on your way to Tortola, the ship's clock will be adjusted forward (they will explicitly mention it in the Cruise Compass, plus lots of announcements on board) and you "lose" an hour.

 

On your way back to Ft. Lauderdale, they'll adjust the clock back an hour, again likely overnight, and you "gain" that hour back.

 

Sometimes they adjust the clock during the day, mid-afternoon (I experienced that on an transatlantic). But I think an overnight adjustment is more likely in your itinerary.

 

All this to say that I'm pretty sure your ship's time will match the island time at every port, which is what the 1 hour adjustment (to the Atlantic time zone) is all about.

 

I think its really up to the discretion of the captain as to whether the clocks change...

 

We did two trips on RCL and only changed the clocks on one of those trips. Even for the switch to daylight savings time, the Captain chose to change the clocks a day earlier...we moved ahead one hour on Friday rather than Saturday so we 'lost' the hour sleep going into a sea day rather than turn-around day.

 

I'm taking a regular watch with me so if we need to stay on ship time vs. island time, we'll have an accurate measure. Most phones and many watches now automatically calibrate to the atomic clock and would adjust to island time, throwing everything off.

Edited January 30, 2016 by msmayor

[Clarea]

For the Serenade sailing February 5, does anyone know if the ship's time is different than any of the following island times or will the ship's time be the same as the island time---

 

Tortola

St. Kitts

Dominica

Antigua

St. Martin

 

Trying to make sure we are on the same time frame as all of our private tours.

Royal says that your port arrival and departure times are listed on your pre-cruise itinerary in that port's local time.

Edited January 30, 2016 by clarea

[moopetguy]

Most phones and many watches now automatically calibrate to the atomic clock and would adjust to island time, throwing everything off.

 

Good point, that could definitely happen. And I think this is more common with Android phones based on the confusion some of my shipmates have previously experienced, though it could happen with any phone -- if they don't get a cell tower signal for a period of time, they might disassociate from a time zone and revert to UTC.

 

Those that this happened to on my recent cruise wondered why their phone's time jumped ahead by five hours after leaving the Eastern time zone and being on board a ship with their cellular service turned off.

[Clarea]

Good point, that could definitely happen. And I think this is more common with Android phones based on the confusion some of my shipmates have previously experienced, though it could happen with any phone -- if they don't get a cell tower signal for a period of time, they might disassociate from a time zone and revert to UTC.

 

Those that this happened to on my recent cruise wondered why their phone's time jumped ahead by five hours after leaving the Eastern time zone and being on board a ship with their cellular service turned off.

This is why we turn off automatic time changing on our phones as soon as we get onboard.

[cb at sea]

SHIP'S TIME is all that matters to you...don't worry about local time at all.

[BILL-WI]

For the Serenade sailing February 5, does anyone know if the ship's time is different than any of the following island times or will the ship's time be the same as the island time---

 

Tortola

St. Kitts

Dominica

Antigua

St. Martin

 

Trying to make sure we are on the same time frame as all of our private tours.

 

Just got off of Serenade on Monday...The ship time and the Island time are the same in all the ports.

 

BILL

[tip]

For the Serenade sailing February 5, does anyone know if the ship's time is different than any of the following island times or will the ship's time be the same as the island time---

 

Tortola

St. Kitts

Dominica

Antigua

St. Martin

 

Trying to make sure we are on the same time frame as all of our private tours.

 

We just returned from the same 10 day itinerary on the Serenade this past week. We set our clocks and watches forward one hour on the second night and then back again on the next to last night. Thus we were on island time at all ports.

 

As a previous poster pointed out, the decision is up to the captain. Our captain left the ship this past Monday to return home for time off.

[moopetguy]

This is why we turn off automatic time changing on our phones as soon as we get onboard.

 

Absolutely, I do that too, but some people don't think of that setting or don't even know that their phone's default setting is to automatically adjust the time to be "helpful". Usually it's not so helpful during a cruise :)

[Clarea]

Absolutely, I do that too, but some people don't think of that setting or don't even know that their phone's default setting is to automatically adjust the time to be "helpful". Usually it's not so helpful during a cruise :)

Especially if you use the phone as an alarm clock and the time changes while you are sleeping.:eek:

[moopetguy]

SHIP'S TIME is all that matters to you...don't worry about local time at all.

 

The ship's time is absolutely important to keep track of so you don't get left behind :) But privately-arranged tours would operate in local island time, so if you need to meet at a certain time and place, it would be important to know the local time as well (should it differ).

 

Depending on your hours in port, the operating hours of some venues might not align with your stay so knowing local time would help you not to show up too early, before they open, or too late, after they close.

[cruisenfever]

For the Serenade sailing February 5, does anyone know if the ship's time is different than any of the following island times or will the ship's time be the same as the island time---

 

Tortola

St. Kitts

Dominica

Antigua

St. Martin

 

Trying to make sure we are on the same time frame as all of our private tours.

The Islands in the Caribbean are on Atlantic Standard Time, so they are 1 hours ahead of us here in the Eastern Standard Time Zone. You will move your clocks forward for those islands and then fall back as you return to FLL.

[Joby]

Just got off of Serenade on Monday...The ship time and the Island time are the same in all the ports.

 

BILL

 

Thanks for the info, Bill :)

[cruisenfever]

Just got off of Serenade on Monday...The ship time and the Island time are the same in all the ports.

 

BILL

Thanks for the info, Bill :)

Which means that clocks were moved forward on the ship.

Edited January 30, 2016 by cruisenfever